“Grenell brings foreign policy chops and more than a decade of political experience to the aggressive but relatively young Romney staff. His is one in a series of hires as the presumptive Republican nominee rapidly expands his small staff as it moves into the general election against President Obama.

“During all eight years of President George W. Bush’s tenure, Grenell served as the administration’s director of communications and public diplomacy at the United Nations. He advised four U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations: John D. Negroponte, John C. Danforth, John R. Bolton and Zalmay Khalilzad.”

From what I know of Richard, he is particularly close to John Bolton, which augurs well for those of us who would like to see Bolton return to the U.N. or assume an even higher foreign policy role in a possible Romney administration. With all the ongoing treachery of Iran, Syria, the putative “Arab Spring,” Hamas, Hezbollah, North Korea, etc., etc., Bolton’s more needed now than ever — and the Grenell appointment points the way.

Richard also has considerable background as a spokesperson for Republican politicians (George Pataki, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, etc.).

But there’s one thing about Grenell not mentioned in the politically correct WaPo — he’s openly gay.

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But I am putting that essentially irrelevant fact out as a safeguard of sorts against attacks that are likely to come. Some — a tiny number, really — on the most extreme end of the socially conservative right might object to an open homosexual in such a key position on Romney’s foreign policy team. But almost all would likely ignore this, respecting Grenell’s bona fides and — let’s be honest — his solid hawkish leanings.

Team Axelrod is another matter. Recently they have done everything in their power to stir the pot with phony distractions — fake racism, fake sexism, fake classism, even fake dogs. You name it; they’ve done it — except do any honest analysis of our current economic and foreign policy situation.

So what’s to prevent them from coming after Richard, stirring that same pot yet again to provoke virtually anyone to bite? After all, even if it creates but 10 minutes of distraction, that’s 10 minutes the public is not paying attention to the real issues — issues that hurt the president. Team Axelrod may not be able to resist.

Well, David, as one Jew to another,: enough already.: Stop this and the rest of your bogus attacks and distractions.

In this case, you might find out something rather surprising, possibly even astonishing to you. Republicans, particularly those on the libertarian side of the ledger, are often more accepting of their homosexual brothers and sisters than many so-called liberal Democrats.

This is not uniform, of course. In affairs of human sexuality, all things are possible. But I have further noticed — having been on both sides — that those same libertarian-leaning Republicans are generally less likely to exploit someone’s sexuality for political gain.

But liberals seem dependent on branding us as groups — whether by race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. That’s their curse — and it’s hard to see how they are going to escape it.